Despite many achievements in the search for better dental/orthopedic biomaterials, the best strategy to resolve disease as well as restore tissue structure and biomechanical function continue to be an area of intense debate. Recent findings discovered that the host tissue response, particularly the immune response, is the most critical factor determining the clinical outcome of biomaterials. Therefore, bioactive materials, a group of biomaterials capable of leveraging the host tissue response to achieve their biological functions become increasingly popular in the field. Nevertheless, our tissue environment is always subject to dynamic changes in disease conditions or during the regenerative process. It is thus essential to design bioactive material that can actively respond to the dynamic tissue environment under different physiological or pathological scenarios. To this end, smart bioactive materials are extensively discussed nowadays because they can respond to internal or external stimuli to allow on-demand modulation of their biophysical and biochemical properties to fine-tune the healing process. Additionally, biomimetic or bioinspired materials that imitate the intricate composition and architecture of target tissues are also found promising as they can better adapt to complex native tissue microenvironments.
Therefore, the emphasis of this Research Topic of Frontiers in Chemistry is to highlight recent advancements in bioactive materials for dental and orthopedic applications. We welcome the submission of Original Research articles, Reviews, Mini Reviews and Perspectives on themes that include, but are not limited to:
• Novel bioactive materials for dental/bone tissue regeneration and the therapeutic management of oral/skeletal disease;
• New technologies or designs that can potentially be used in the development of dental/orthopedic bioactive materials;
• The interaction between bioactive materials and oral/skeletal tissues, as well as the extracellular/intracellular signaling pathway involved;
• The biophysical/biochemical features that can be adopted in the engineering of bioactive materials to regulate host tissue response.
Despite many achievements in the search for better dental/orthopedic biomaterials, the best strategy to resolve disease as well as restore tissue structure and biomechanical function continue to be an area of intense debate. Recent findings discovered that the host tissue response, particularly the immune response, is the most critical factor determining the clinical outcome of biomaterials. Therefore, bioactive materials, a group of biomaterials capable of leveraging the host tissue response to achieve their biological functions become increasingly popular in the field. Nevertheless, our tissue environment is always subject to dynamic changes in disease conditions or during the regenerative process. It is thus essential to design bioactive material that can actively respond to the dynamic tissue environment under different physiological or pathological scenarios. To this end, smart bioactive materials are extensively discussed nowadays because they can respond to internal or external stimuli to allow on-demand modulation of their biophysical and biochemical properties to fine-tune the healing process. Additionally, biomimetic or bioinspired materials that imitate the intricate composition and architecture of target tissues are also found promising as they can better adapt to complex native tissue microenvironments.
Therefore, the emphasis of this Research Topic of Frontiers in Chemistry is to highlight recent advancements in bioactive materials for dental and orthopedic applications. We welcome the submission of Original Research articles, Reviews, Mini Reviews and Perspectives on themes that include, but are not limited to:
• Novel bioactive materials for dental/bone tissue regeneration and the therapeutic management of oral/skeletal disease;
• New technologies or designs that can potentially be used in the development of dental/orthopedic bioactive materials;
• The interaction between bioactive materials and oral/skeletal tissues, as well as the extracellular/intracellular signaling pathway involved;
• The biophysical/biochemical features that can be adopted in the engineering of bioactive materials to regulate host tissue response.